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My Budapest City Break Itinerary

This Budapest city break happened accidentally. Lets say the city was easy to reach from all the places our ‘group’ came from – Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, and since it was many people travelling under my supervision I was really ambitious about showing not only the city’s beautiful parts, but also the surrounding region (and even farther)!

In fact, I never loved (not even liked) Budapest, but as I already know, it all depends on how planned you are, how responsible you face the new place. Imagine you come to any European capital, where do you end up without knowing where exactly to go? Where all the other tourists do, that’s why those places are called ‘touristic’ places, because their geo position was perfect for a first comer’s path. At the end you’ll say the same thing I heard from a very unlucky traveler: ‘Is there any place in the world to do anything special at all?’ Poor guy, he went around a bit, he is an expat, and he still thinks that it’s all about bars, and even the bars are all the same, because that’s right: all touristic places in the world are having more or less similar bars.

What if you do your pre-holiday homework? You’ll fell in love with the diversity of the globe and the specific spot you are visiting right know. Me and Budapest – our relationship is the best example of that. Hated for 25 years, and now liked so much that I’m even ready to move there ?

Day 1 – arriving and finding our Budapest city break guide

Budapest airport is quite well equipped and well functioning as for Eastern Europe, but getting from there to the city won’t be the best part of your trip. So I’ll reveal the best ways of getting from Ferihegy airport to Budapest downtown here

For the first day of our Budapest city break I booked a local guide from one of my most frequently used apps – Showaround. It’s not always helpful, doesn’t cover all the places I went to (so I had to discover other solutions of getting a local guide), but in here Showaround offers quite a wide portfolio of locals. Which doesn’t mean they are all suitable for guiding ? I really spent a while on researching profiles, filtering just those boys & girls who’re only interested in meeting a foreign person, without having any knowledge of their city, being able to do a memorable tour, from those who really know what to show in Budapest and how.

That’s how we ended up with Lili – our local guide in Budapest. The tour lasted for 3 hours and during that time we walked from Pest seeing and saving on maps all the best bars and restaurants, visiting the magnificent Saint Stephen (Szent István) Basilica. Afterwards we crossed the Széchenyi Chain Bridge to reach the royal part of the city – Buda, climbed up to the Buda Castle, walked around the historical part of the 1st District which is full of architectural miracles like the Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church and Holy Trinity Column.

We ended our tour going back to Pest by bus to see the Parliament shining in warm orange lights at night and heading towards our restaurant nearby (kindly booked by Lili for us). To sum up, I’d say it was a traditional sightseeing tour which is very much needed if you are visiting a city for the first time, and if you’re a person who loves taking photos of everything around and spamming your friends’ Instagram feeds 😉

Above all it’s important to have this kind of a tour on your first day, it makes you feel so much more at home during the remaining time of your stay!

Sharing Lili’s profile for those who’re willing to listen to my advice and get a local guide leading them through the city’s best sights! I’d recommend to contact your guide a few days before your city break in Budapest.

What about the dinner? I’ll tell you everything about eating and going out in Budapest here. So far, I can confirm that everywhere we went was unique, unforgettable and delicious!

Did you know that…

Buda and Pest were two separate cities until 1873, in fact the first bridge across Danube to connect the 2 cities was built only in 1849

Buda – is the royal part of the city, settled on the hills with its wealthy grand Hapsburg palace

Pest – is the party & gastronomy heaven with plenty pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants and bistros

The height of St. Stephen Basilica in Budapest is 96 m, current regulations prohibit constructing anything higher than 96 m, so the Basilica is visible from everywhere

Day 2 – a boat trip on Danube to visit a traditional Hungarian town Szentendre

So what is the best thing to do in Budapest or any other place close to water (river, lake, sea, ocean – doesn’t matter)? Boat tours or cruises, or just using the boat as a way of commuting!

For the second day I planned a boat trip to Szentendre – a little picturesque town, just 22 km away from the capital. It’s a perfect day/half-day boat trip from Budapest for mid-season, from the end of April and beginning of May the Danube is getting full of boats running back and forth to Esztergom, Visegrád and Vác – these are the other towns along Danube.

Esztergom – the town where the first king of Hungary, Saint Stephen was born and crowned

Visegrád– a former royal town, famous for the remains of the Renaissance summer residence of King Matthias (which was the first appearance of Renaissance outside of Italy in Europe)

Vác– famous for its Baroque city centre, catholic cathedral and ice cream 🙂

view from our boat

Besides that you can opt for a ‘program boat’ as Hungarians say, meaning a boat tour on Danube with fine dining, authentic local beer tasting, boat-cafes, wine tastings, cocktail and finally party boat tours.

this is how a morning on a boat should start!

And for goddess’ sake, don’t buy those tours from international websites (lets call it like that). Book at the first source, at the provider – BKV Cruises, and if you have difficulties with Hungarian language, ask me for help! Direct booking will ensure you pay less, and find yourself in a more authentic place with either

So as you understand now, after checking all the schedules under the links above, I chose Szentendre for it being the only available boat tour in the beginning of April 😀 But it’s definitely worth it for a few reasons.

It’s the best example of a traditional Hungarian little town with colourful houses, churches and people still earning money by doing traditional Hungarian arts (dollmaking, pottery, palinka and marzipan production).

There are many nice restaurants serving very Hungarian food, meaning – deep fried meet, chicken, vegetables and whatever else can be deep fried, various potato & pasta based meals, and Lángos – a traditional Hungarian delicacy, made of deep fried donut dough, covered with cheese, sour cream, bacon and other toppings at your choice. (As you see, Hungary is not a place for starting a low-fat diet!).

It’s much better (read: less expensive) to buy souvenirs in Szentendre, rather than in Budapest. First of all, it’s an experience: there are houses full of traditional tablecloths, pottery, wooden goods, whilst in Budapest it all looks crap on those touristy stalls in the centre.

Did I tell you that the weather was very much unfriendly? I even wanted to cancel it all, but then came back to my senses and searched for indoor activities in Szentendre. There are a few interesting museums, but only in case you like museums ? We were much more eager to walk along the river, actually until the point the town finished.

The thing I wanted a lot from this trip is to eat lángos (the fried dough with toppings), which we successfully managed at a very traditional place, it’s just a window in a wall, leading to an extremely hot kitchen where oil is boiling and women are running around to manage all the orders. It’s called Fantázia Lángos Büfé – it’s up to you to chose whether you want to stay at that unique kitchen window with comic streetart on the walls and sit on cheap white plastic chairs (an experience in my opinion!), or you prefer to go behind the corner, facing the river, and have a table at the very same establishment’s terrace with knitted chairs, blankets and all the nice stuff. The Lángos will be the same :}

Szentendre is famous for some orthodox churches (the town is very much influenced by slavik people, as I noticed – especially Serbians), what I didn’t like is that you have to pay an entrance fee at all of them (I’m okay with voluntarily donations, but paying to a church is a bit too much). So here they are if churches make you excited:

Remembering about museums for rainy days (or not only). There is a traditional marzipan museum and shop, some pálinka tastings around the main square, then a house with handmade pottery, and a shop with traditional Hungarian household items like kitchen & bathroom textile, toys for kids, they have very special dolls. These I consider half shops, half museums. Then purely museums:

Many more museums here (the page is in Hungarian but easily convertible to English with google translate)

That’s how we spent our day – entering little shops and houses, walking along the Danube, eating Lángos, and, almost forgot to mention, there are many nice ice-cream shops in Szentendre. My favourite one, available also in Budapest, is Levendula Fagylaltozo – they have dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free ice-cream along with ‘normal’ sweetie-milky ones ?

The boat back is at 5 pm, and it arrives in Budapest at 6 pm, quite fast comparing to the fact that the route to Szentendre by boat takes 1h30 (which is because you are sailing against the current).

Going out in Budapest

Evenings in Budapest are nice, if you know where to hang out. Which we did, of course ? The Spring Terrace of Akvárium Klub impresses by blooming design outdoors, and the fact that you are actually within an aquarium once inside (you’ll see:) Well, since the indoor area is mostly for kids – cinema, art space, even castings are held here, we enjoyed the buzzing outdoor terrace with drinks, music, lots of locals and almost no tables/chairs available. I’d recommend to take a glass of Hungarian champagne and enjoy the sunset, and take any chair from anywhere, because no one really cares how you ‘settle down’ there…

Akvárium Klub

…but hunger never lets you in peace, right? So while everyone was having fun and drinking, I had to desperately search for a dinner spot on a Saturday evening… At the end we left it for the destiny to decide, and ended up in a restaurant called Konyha (kitchen).

They position themselves as a sophisticated Hungarian cuisine promoters, and what can I say, they do it great. I don’t remember the exact meals we had, but I know that our group ordered all the main courses they had in the menu, so lets say we did a broad tasting at Konyha. By the way, they only have daily menus, so it’s actually just a page of choices and that’s it.

The best thing Hungary could inherit from Ottomans (and it’s not the brunette men)?

Turkish Baths in Budapest

After returning from Konyha and having some rest to digest our excellent dinner, we planned to have a night bathing session in Rudas Baths – from 10 pm to 4 am, on Friday and Saturday nights they do allow mixed bathing (men vs women), otherwise it’s separated, like in a traditional hammam.

Therefore, see below my little guide of Turkish Baths in Budapest and let me know if you have difficulties to choose one out of all (I was struggling so much, that I promised to return and try out all of them, otherwise it’s unfair!)

Some photos from Gellért spa to boost your imagination 🙂

Budapest is extremely lucky to be a capital city which can brag about having thermal springs, in fact having 118 of them beneath the city, and all purely natural. Just imagine 70 million liters of hot water spring forth daily in Budapest. They have different mineral composition (some are smelly…), and have various healing effects.

I recommend (and mostly you’ll hear this advice all over the city) to focus on 4 famous thermal baths in Budapest, and as a bonus I’m adding some info for those who prefer hidden spas, revealing you some facts about 2 not very famous baths in Budapest ?

Rudas – built by Ottomans in the 16th century, and still functions in the very same building. The coolest thing about Rudas is that they organize a night bathing on Friday and Saturday nights, where mixed swimming is allowed (remember, it’s Turkish baths, so there are days for women, and there are for men). Besides the fact that it’s fun to swim at night (until 4 am), Rudas also offers a panorama outdoor pool on the rooftop. From there you’ll enjoy the Parliament view, and if you look behind, you actually see the Buda Castle in the closest vicinity. Rudas bath is built under the castle (Gellert) hill. The disadvantage is that the outdoor pool is small, people hardly find a place to sit (or even stay), it’s actually a small, but beautiful, jacuzzi pool, not for crowds for sure. Price from 4200 HUF/day (13,5 EUR).

Gellert – as for me, the most beautiful and well-equipped thermal bath in Budapest. It’s an exquisite spa with a hotel for those who plan to have a continuous spa retreat in the city. They offer various treatments and massages, 10 pools, and are open every day of the year, with the open-air pool only functioning in summer season. The prices are higher here, but it ensures you won’t be crowding in the water. Price from 5600 HUF/day (18 EUR).

Szechenyi – the most popular among locals and tourists alike. It’s a leisure place, or I can even say palace! It was built in the 20th century in Neo Baroque style, and I’d say it’s so well done, that passing by the palace from outside you stop and desperately try to search on maps where the hell are you to spot such an immense palace on your way. It’s more affordable than Gellert, thus more crowded, but at the same time they offer more pools as well (16 comparing to 10 in Gellert). Price from 5200 HUF/day (17 EUR).

Kiraly – one of the smallest baths in Budapest, constructed in the 16th century, offering steam rooms, hot air chamber, jacuzzi and a fitness room. The Kiraly bath is perfect for those who don’t rush to get various treatments in spas, but prefer a unique and intimate, less crowded location. Price from 2800 HUF/day (9 EUR).

Veli Bej – the most secret spa of Budapest, less know, was under reconstruction for a while. A very special spa, since it’s not part of the Budapest thermal baths network and belongs to a hospital. Recently renovated, but the modern adjustments were made in harmony with the original Turkish architecture. The water is 100% thermal, no chlorine added, and it’s changed 4 times a day. The maximum quantity of visitors at a time can’t exceed 80, which means it’s never crowded. Veli Bej is officially the oldest bath in Budapest, and has the largest Turkish pool in Central Europe. Prices from 2800 HUF (9 EUR), but the ticket is valid for 3 hours, you have to pay extra for staying longer.

Lukacs – built in 12th century as a monastery baths (so way before Ottomans), the hot springs are rich in calcium, magnesium, fluoride ions, hydrogen-carbonate, sulphate, sodium and chloride. Who knows maybe this is the only non-Turkish bath in Budapest? They offer several pools – both indoor and outdoor, a salt wall, sauna and lounge. Prices are from 3300 HUF/day (11 EUR).

Wine in Hungary. Bikavér & Tokaji

Here I wanted to emphasize that Hungarian wine is something you should pay a lot of attention to, since traditionally the country produces very high quality red wine (Bikavér) and worldwide famous dessert wines (mostly Tokaji). Therefore if you are in Hungary, I wouldn’t recommend you to order something like an ordinary Merlot from the wine-list (unless the sommelier proves you that it’s special, because there are vineyards in the country which are doing experimental wine – planting vine coming from US or France), try as many varieties of Bikavér (translated as ‘bull’s blood’) and maybe find a favourite one to bring back home, as the most precious souvenir from your trip ?

photo credit: Minden, ami Egér blog

Bikavér – the first quality wine in Hungary’s history to be produced within a single region, in Eger. It’s a full body wine, based on blue-frank, cabernet, merlot and kadarka grapes, however no single grape can dominate in a glass of wine. There are 3 tiers of quality: classicus, superior and grand superior. It’s low on tannin, has deep ruby colour, and a fruity and spicy flavour.

photo credit: winefolly.com

Dessert wines – there’ve been times when Tokaji (dessert wines from Tokaj region) were extremely famous (renown Austrian composer Joseph Haydn even used to receive payments in Tokaji Eszencia, the most expensive variety). Then there’ve been times when the Hungarian wineries were neglected during the Communist regime, so forget about quality…

1990 became a turning point for Hungarian winemaking – the wineries turned to private property again, some bought by worldwide holdings (like AXA insurance group, which buys vineyards all over the world), grapes were replanted, and as a result, the quality raised a lot.

Tokaji can contain only 6 local grape varieties – Furmint, Hárslevelü, Kabar, Kövérszölö and Sárgamuskotály. Now the most famous of wines is Tokaji Aszú, where not the variety of grape is the most important, but the fruit fungus called gray mold.

Which means that the harvest is done after the grapes are infected by the fungus, which makes them shrivel and become sweet.

The classification – 3-4-5-6 puttonyos – historically the locals where measuring Aszú berries in baskets (puttony), then marking the barrels by the quantity of baskets used. So a 6-puttonyos Aszú wine meant that for it’s production they used 6 baskets. The more baskets you put, the sweeter is the outcome ?

Nowadays the -puttonyos labels lost their technical use (since no one is using baskets for measurements), but it stayed for marketing purposes. In fact, 3-4-5 puttonyos term discontinued since 2013, and only the 6 puttonyos Aszú is officially valid. Which means that every wine which is below the 150 grams of sugar/liter (6 puttonyos) can be called only Aszú.

‘angyalka’ spoon for drinking the precious Eszencia

Talking about the most expensive Tokaji Aszú – it’s called Eszencia. This wine (or better say syrop) is made of the noble rot only, it has to age for 4-5 years to gain as little as 3-4 % ABV, then it can continue aging for 200+ years, since the sugar preserves it well. The Eszencia contains 450+ grams sugar/liter, it’s so sweet that people drink it from special spoons, tenderly called by Hungarians

as ‘angyalka’ (little angel).

So because I made this pre-story, you might have suspect that the next day of my Hungarian adventures is going to take place in Tokaj ?

Day #3 Tokaj

It’s around 2h15min ride from Budapest, which isn’t a little, is it? So I scheduled the vineyard tour and tasting for 3 pm in order for us to pick up the car and have all the group members awaken.

The route is beautiful! Maybe it’s my ancestors whispering in my blood, but hopefully not, and I’m objective. Hungary is a plainland, very much focused on agriculture, so you’ll see all around ploughed fields with some minor incorporation of human-planted forests. And keep your eyes on: you can usually spot deer and hare families on the fields ? It’s a picturesque trip to north-eastern Hungary, to the boarder with Slovakia, and apropos, the part of Tokaj wine-making region is actually on the territory of Slovakia.

How was I choosing a winery among so many of them in the region?

I used this Hungarian online wine-shop to see a list of wine-producers of Tokaj region. After checking out all of them, one by one, I ended up choosing between Royal Tokaji and Disznókő winery (the 6 puttonyos Aszú of the second one I already knew, read loved, very well). As I usually do in this doubting situations, I contacted both and let the first replied to win!

Both replied and the proposals were so good, that I cried for a while, that I’m not travelling alone, otherwise I’d definitely visit all two wineries, and actually spend at least 2 days in Tokaj. But it was a group trip, so we headed towards the winner – Disznókő winery.

The winery is just at the entrance to the Tokaj region (UNESCO Heritage since 2002), and you’ll notice it by unique architecture which is not usual for Hungarian vineyards. The oldest building is the Sárga Bórház – before AXA Millésimes invested in the vineyard, that was the only construction on site. Today it’s functioning as a traditional Tokaji restaurant, and the production processes moved to new, but very impressive constructions.

Axa built a state-of-art winery, perhaps, the most impressive viticultural architecture in Central Europe. It has 3 floors, and each represents a process of wine-making:

The ground floor where the grapes arrive and get under press

The fermentation of the grape juice is done a level below in stainless steel tanks

Finally the wines are ageing in French oak barrels in the subterranean cellar (which will be the most impressive part of your tour, since it’s very cold and almost 100% humid, you’ll see water dripping from the ceiling, walls, everywhere, and the famous fungus is here as well)

Then there is a yurt shaped huge garage for tractors, which is at the same time the most beloved by Hungarians concert venue ?

Talking about the wine – I explained the Tokaji Aszú quite in details above. Now I have to mention that the winery is producing dry and another special sweet wine as well:

1413 Tokaji – named after the first mentioning of the vineyard in 1413. The wine type is called Szamorodni (which means ‘born by itself’ in many Slavic languages). This explains the processing method – the grapes are not selected one by one, but picked as whole bunches with many shriveled and botrytized grapes. The young wine might be a bit acid (but I love that), with age it gains more honey notes.

Dry Furmint – a wine perfectly matching vegetable meals (in my non-professional opinion), it has a fresh citrus taste, the flavour is refreshing, I could feel some hints of grapefruit.

The experience in Disznókő combines a tour around the vineyard, to the chapel which leads to outstanding views around all the estate. You’ll see the famous stone which was believed to have a shape of a hog, that’s where the name comes from (Disznókő – literally means ‘Hog stone’). Then your guide will take you to the winery, where you’ll experience all stages of winemaking. After which you’ll end up at an underground cellar where they do the tastings. You can choose which wines to taste, the winery will provide you with 3 options – dry wines only, Aszú wines, or all of them combined. We chose the most complete one of course ?

It was a memorable trip worth those hours on the way, the winery actually made me finalizing and putting in words my feelings towards wine – one day I definitely want to have my own estate, it is one of the most beautiful businesses a human being could ever have))

Since we couldn’t eat at the Sárga Bórház (it’s booked for private events often, so you’d rather make a reservation), I impressed my foreign guests by, finally!, real Hungarian cuisine at a roadside restaurant, in a village leaving Tokaj. Which contains of: various potato side dishes, porc-wheel-chicken-vegetables all deep-fried in a ‘schnitzel’ way, large pieces of bread, and salads including anything but vegetables. No surprise that I was quite ‘big’ in childhood 😀

Nightlife in Budapest

The plan for tonight was clubbing and lately I became an expert in finding very unique places for that (but I still couldn’t learn drinking responsibly). I chose 3 active, local, stylish nightlife spots in Budapest:

Csendes Bar (meaning quiet bar) – an extraordinary designed ruin bar with toys, bicycles, parts of mannequins handing from the walls and ceiling. As it’s name states, it’s not a dancing-shouting place, but a very artistic bar for those who prefer meaningful conversations with a glass of Hungarian sparkling (typical me…) They even close quite early, or just that was a Monday, and they closed at around 11.

photo credit: Csendes facebook page

Szimpla Kert – szimpla means simple, however the place is anything but simple, it’s very hard to describe, so I encourage you to visit it asap ? Imagine you are entering a closed courtyard (a very large one), with bars all around you, crazy British (read drunk) guys having their bachelor party, even more crazy locals, and many expats, dancing just in the middle of the yard, preventing you from moving forward, everything is lighty-shiny as a x-mas tree. Then at the end you’ll face a huge screen with a smart, (muted), movie, which no one actually watches, but it’s so cool to see it there, and stare if you can’t find a spot to niche yourself. And voila, there are some crazy, iron stairs leading upstairs where you’ll find a concert room (with a band actually recording), and another endless labyrinth of bars, so you can in fact spend a few hours by just entering a door, and finding another one to enter, endless… Then you’ll reach a small courtyard (mainly used in old times to dry laundry surrounded by balconies), and again stairs but now within a multi-floor stairway taking you downstairs.

It’s an ideal place for those Alices which always dreamed to find themselves in Wonderland ? After spending there a while I can’t believe there might be something more impressive in Budapest in terms of nightlife (but I’ll come back to double check!)

Szimpla Kert in Budapest

As the 3rd in my list I had Instant – the biggest ruin pub in Budapest. But guess what, after Szimpla we were even more satisfied than expected, so seeing a huge queue to enter Instant we decided to leave the place for the next time. What I know about Instant from my research: it’s the most famous nightlife spot in Budapest, hiding 4 dance floors, 8 bars and a restaurant inside. If you visited the Parliament, the Fisherman’s Bastion, then Instant is another sight to see and not to miss.

Day #4 Balaton & Siófok. Hévíz thermal lake

I wouldn’t plan going there, I guess))) After long driving to Tokaj yesterday, another 1h 20 min/one way, wasn’t very much exciting, but one of our ‘team members’ had to attend an event in Siófok, and I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t treat this as an opportunity to see the famous ‘Hungarian Sea’ – Balaton.

A bit of details about the place:

The most popular Hungarian summer resort, although a bit expensive for locals)))

The mud of the lake is considered to be a remedy for people with fatigue, anemia and nervous diseases

The name of the lake comes from Slavic ‘Bloto’, meaning ‘mud’

It’s the largest freshwater lake in Europe

If you are about to visit Balaton, the easiest to reach is Siófok (by train), but there is another interesting spot around – Hévíz. It’s small town and world’s 2nd largest thermal lake, and 1st most active natural lake, as you understand the whole town is actually a wellness resort (and it’s another to do thing in my list for the next visit to Hungary). The lake is formed by hot and cold water springs coming from 38m underground, and the impressive thing is the stability of the lake’s temperature – it doesn’t change almost at all in years, and even in coldest winters it doesn’t drop below 24 °C. The tradition of thermal baths in Hévíz has been going on from 2nd century, under the Roman Empire, the scientific research of its’ healing properties started in 18th century by Festetics family.

The bathing time is from 9 to 18, the prices for bathing only are around 17 EUR/day, then there are many extra options, for example you can have various medical procedures, or just massage and traditional wellness treatments (search for these extra services under the Festetics Day Spa page). For bathing only consult the Lake Hévíz page.

So returning to Siofok in April ? Even though we took our swimming suits, it’s not Hévíz, it’s not year-round bathing. There are many great boat tours on the Balaton lake, but… they all start from end of April (which wasn’t our case).

Boat Tours on Balaton Lake

Apparently there are boats running all year round, but I didn’t know that when on Balaton. There is a ferry which takes you and your vehicle on the other side, and there are boat tours (very little though), even from March 30th. But you won’t have problems with it if you plan your Budapest city break for May or later on.

I found a great brochure with all the schedules for 2018, but… it’s in Hungarian. So let’s agree that if you don’t understand it, you just comment below with a preferred departure point (there are many ports around the lake), or just shout out saying ‘I don’t know from where, but I know it should be on Balaton’. I’ll help you to find the suitable boat and clarify the schedule ? Here is the link to this Hungarian puzzle-schedule in pdf)))

So we spent around 2 hours in Siofok walking around, eating a bit, and enjoying the swans and ducks on the lake. By the way, it’s really huuuuge, immense ‘water reservoir’ (as I call the too large water formations)))) For those coming in summertime – there is a paid beach which is comfortable for swimming, has sand and sunbeds, and doesn’t cost a lot. It’s from 2,4 to 3 EUR/day/adult, but it will definitely make your experience on the lake hustle-free.

Medieval restaurant in Budapest – a feast for the strong ones

After returning from Balaton we had a crazy plan – dinner in a medieval restaurant (isn’t it crazy? At least I never had one). If you are about to try this for the first time in your life, be ready – it’s a lot of food, and you better come with friends who are famous for having more than healthy appetite ?

photo credit: Sir Lancelot Medieval Restaurant facebook page

Let’s have a look at the menu together and try to make clarifications:

Any plate (see last page) for 2 is actually for 4, and plate for 4 is for 8 people (otherwise you’ll overeat, believe me)

Although the plates are huge it’s much more fun to order them, than single meals, because this way you’re getting a change to try almost all their menu

The service fee is included in the bill, but I’m sure you’ll be happy to leave more tips, and I’m about to tell you why.

photo credit: Sir Lancelot Medieval Restaurant facebook page

The restaurant is far not only about food. You’ll see belly dancers, fire dancers, fire eaters, medieval dancers, sword fights, and actually anything anytime. So, whenever you come (and do come only by reservation, they are mostly full), you have a guarantee of a show. And a tip: if your reservation is at 9 pm for example, come on time, or even a bit earlier to get a table closer to the stage. Otherwise they are placing everyone on first come first served basis.

Of course here you won’t find too many locals 🙂 The visitors are mainly travellers, just as you and me, trying to make the best out of their Budapest city break.

photo credit: Sir Lancelot Medieval Restaurant facebook page

Well, I guess you can imagine that on the day after no one was fancy for breakfast ? And the day after was the departure time for most of us, while only me, the lucky one, managed to squeeze in the schedule the coolest ever dinner in Budapest!

Budapest Café New York

I’ve never seen that many people just passing by on the street to stop in front of a restaurant and starting to take photos like hypnotized! Thanks god they don’t know how much more photogenic it is inside))

The New York Palace first opened in Budapest in 1894, at that time it was the most beloved coffee house in Budapest, a very artistic place, gathering famous editors, writers, composers. Unfortunately, the golden era of this sophisticated palace ended with the WW II – it was functioning as a sporting goods shop, and, of course, was very much neglected. Even though in 1954 it reopened under ‘Hungaria cafe’ name, it was really reborn in 2006 with its’ original name and proper reconstruction to its’ very best look.

and with this kind of ceiling you’ll be trying to focus on your meal :))

Today New York Palace is a hotel, a café, a salon restaurant, and a bar. It proudly keeps its’ original Italian renaissance style, serving traditional meals of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Why is it worth coming to Café New York? Far not in every city (even within the ancient European continent where we are spoiled by ‘old stones’) you can visit a restaurant or café within a luxurious, but at the same time elegant, palace, with fine cuisine (but delicious that you want to leak your plates), intelligent waiters for having a meaningful conversation. I was so fascinated by our waiters knowledge in Hungarian wine, that I couldn’t stop asking him questions, he actually had to delicately turn my attention to drinking wine, rather than continuing bombing with questions about Tokaji Aszú (maybe he was afraid that at some point he won’t be able to give an answer))

With the most beautiful dining place in Budapest I officially conclude my Hungarian adventures and get ready for the plane at 6 am (but I’ll be back, for sure!) But I’m looking forward to see what did you do during your Budapest city break, share your experiences in a comment below!